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QB/WR Braxton Miller (B1G POY, National Champion, OSU HOF)

Pryor ran a lot towards the sides and would fall like a house of cards if someone hit him near the knees. Pryor had a great stiff arm and was very fast, but I don't think he wanted to plant his foot and make a cut in fear of someone taking out his knee.

AKA...he ran like a QB should, especially when said QB accounts for such a significant portion of the offense. I love Braxton and the way he plays as much as anyone, but whether it's due to fragility, poor decision-making, targets by the other team, bad luck, acts of God or any other factor, he needs to be on the field more.
 
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AKA...he ran like a QB should, especially when said QB accounts for such a significant portion of the offense. I love Braxton and the way he plays as much as anyone, but whether it's due to fragility, poor decision-making, targets by the other team, bad luck, acts of God or any other factor, he needs to be on the field more.

If he misses another whole game it may be hard for him to push ahead of the other heisman hopefuls. Bridgewater and Boyd in particular.
 
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If he misses another whole game it may be hard for him to push ahead of the other heisman hopefuls. Bridgewater and Boyd in particular.

The injury is a ploy for his campaign. He's going to come out and light it up from here on out and show that he is a comeback story kid that is the MVP of college football this year.

In all seriousness, I think both Bridgewater and Boyd will continue to put up Playstation-like numbers all season just based on their conference competition. IMO, it will take a serious injury or team derailment for anyone to beat out Boyd this season if he can keep his team in the BCS top 5 by the end of the year.

As for this weekend, Braxton being "day by day and might not go" has as much weight as Roby "needing to earn his starting spot back" had last week.
 
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As for this weekend, Braxton being "day by day and might not go" has as much weight as Roby "needing to earn his starting spot back" had last week.
Big difference between deciding on whether to play an injured quarterback and deciding whether a All-American starter should "earn" his spot back after off-season poor judgment. The drop-off between Miller and Guiton isn't as big as the drop-off between Roby and Reeves.
 
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Big difference between deciding on whether to play an injured quarterback and deciding whether a All-American starter should "earn" his spot back after off-season poor judgment. The drop-off between Miller and Guiton isn't as big as the drop-off between Roby and Reeves.

I meant that we all knew Roby was going to play last week after a few snaps on D. He may not have "started" but he sure came in quickly. Just like Braxton being "day by day", its coach talk. Do I think Miller hurt himself? Absolutely. Do I think it is serious enough to take 14 days off? Not a chance in hell. Im no doctor but after the way Guiton played, not commenting on Miller forces Cal to have to gameplan around 2 very different offenses.
 
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I meant that we all knew Roby was going to play last week after a few snaps on D. He may not have "started" but he sure came in quickly. Just like Braxton being "day by day", its coach talk. Do I think Miller hurt himself? Absolutely. Do I think it is serious enough to take 14 days off? Not a chance in hell. Im no doctor but after the way Guiton played, not commenting on Miller forces Cal to have to gameplan around 2 very different offenses.
I don't think so. It was coach Warinner that said that 90% of the playbook are open to both QBs. And they didn't miss a beat against our last opponent.
 
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I meant that we all knew Roby was going to play last week after a few snaps on D. He may not have "started" but he sure came in quickly. Just like Braxton being "day by day", its coach talk. Do I think Miller hurt himself? Absolutely. Do I think it is serious enough to take 14 days off? Not a chance in hell. Im no doctor but after the way Guiton played, not commenting on Miller forces Cal to have to gameplan around 2 very different offenses.
While "earn his spot back" was indeed coach speak in the case of Roby, saying your quarterback with a sprained MCL--wearing a knee brace--is "day to day" is not. According to the sideline reporter during the game, Meyer said Miller could play "if needed", but he didn't. That tells me two things: 1) He implicitly trusts Guiton, and 2) He's treating Miller's injury with kid gloves (as he should). If Miller was truly good to go, the Meyer would say so. Cal is not going to game-plan any differently for Guiton than they would for Miller...in fact, our other two scholarship QB (Jones and Barrett) are also mobile QBs, so there's no difference in game-planning for our offense regardless of which of our four QBs are out there.
 
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As much as I love Braxton and think he could win the Heisman simply his talent, I cannot see him putting up the requisite stats with how prone to injury he is. I've watched him since his freshman year of high school and unfortunately, he just cannot stay healthy. Sometimes it is something more serious, sometimes it is just something that keeps him out for a quarter or a half, but it is so systemic that I don't see him playing enough to get the award unless it is a down year and we reach the title, akin to when Jason White won the award.

I sure hope I'm wrong but I have just seen the injuries happen too many times to think otherwise.
 
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As much as I love Braxton and think he could win the Heisman simply his talent, I cannot see him putting up the requisite stats with how prone to injury he is. I've watched him since his freshman year of high school and unfortunately, he just cannot stay healthy. Sometimes it is something more serious, sometimes it is just something that keeps him out for a quarter or a half, but it is so systemic that I don't see him playing enough to get the award unless it is a down year and we reach the title, akin to when Jason White won the award.

I sure hope I'm wrong but I have just seen the injuries happen too many times to think otherwise.

Unfortunately I agree. Coming into the year I thought Miller had a legitimate shot at 4000+ yards and 40+ TDs. But after the first two games and his problem with both minor and medium injuries, I'm not even sure he'll be able to surpass last year's totals by much. I feel like the coaches are going to be even more restrictive when it comes to using Miller as a runner and he may have to come out of 2 or 3 other games as well. While stats aren't everything, it'll be hard to compete with the 3-4 major conference QBs putting up 4000+ yards.

I was thinking the other day that he would have a better shot next year with even more improvement in the passing game, but then I remembered the replacement of the OL and that he'll probably be forced to scramble more often next year, leading to similar injuries.
 
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I agree Braxton will have a hard time surpassing other Heisman hopefuls if he can't stay healthy. Honestly, when he didn't play the rest of the SDSU game, it crossed my mind that trying to win the Heisman might take a back seat now that his total stats aren't likely to look so impressive (compared to Boyd and Bridgewater in particular). While I would love for him to win the Heisman, simply winning every game is way more important to me anyway.

As I mentioned in the Adolphus thread, here's hoping Braxton is back to 100% very, very soon.
 
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Meyer "fairly optimistic" about Miller playing Saturday
By Bill Rabinowitz

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer said this afternoon that he is “fairly optimistic” that quarterback Braxton Miller will be healed sufficiently from a sprained knee to be able to play against California on Saturday.

Miller sprained the medial collateral ligament in his left knee early in Saturday’s 42-7 victory against San Diego State. Senior Kenny Guiton replaced him and played effectively the rest of the game.

“Today, he threw a little bit and moved around,” Meyer said about Miller during the Big Ten coaches conference call. “He’s going to practice in a limited capacity today. His arm is fine. It’s just, can he move and all that? I’ll know more of that after today’s practice.”

Asked if he was more optimistic or pessimistic about Miller’s chance to play based on what he saw today, Meyer replied, “I’m fairly optimistic. (From) everything I’ve been told, the improvement made between Day 3 and Day 4 is very important, and it’s usually substantial. I’m fairly optimistic.”

cont...
http://buckeyextra.dispatch.com/con...r-fairly-optimistic-about-miller-playing.html
http://buckeyextra.dispatch.com/con...r-fairly-optimistic-about-miller-playing.html
 
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This is not meant to be critical of Braxton or mean-spirited in any way. He is a tremendous athlete and I love watching him play. When he got hurt vs. Purdue last year, he was down on the field for a long time, got escorted to the bench, was woosy getting on the cart, and was taken to the hospital - where nothing of any substance was found wrong with him. We were told it was "whiplash". I work in the area of these types of injuries. Nothing I saw in terms of the mechanism of injury or how he acted afterwards was consistent with what we were told was wrong with him. He went out the next week and played against Penn St and showed no signs of a sore neck. It just didn't add up. So here is my conclusion: he is a little dramatic and a little soft. I believe that is simply the truth and the reality.

Now I am going to go hide from the shit storm I'm sure is coming my way.
 
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